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Coleman Instastart propane camping oven

April 10, 2007 - 7:42pm

slothbear

Coleman Instastart propane camping oven

I was wondering if anyone has experience with this oven. At home, I bake two to three times per week. Right now, I'm traveling across America in an RV that doesn't have an oven. I'm really starting to miss baking my own bread.

I think Coleman came out with this oven last year and I haven't been able to find a lot of reviews -- and none that cover baking bread. This is certainly the opposite of a super-precise commercial oven with steam control -- but I'm willing to accept some imperfect bread instead of store-bought bread.

You can find all kinds of listings on the web (most of them the same) by searching for "coleman instastart oven" -- here is one listed at Camping World ... which just happens to have a store right next to the campground we're at tonight. How about that? Any thoughts?

It looks like a great little unit, and how nice to be able to bake while you travel! My only thought would be to ask if you can get an adaptor/regulator to allow you to hook it up to a bigger tank; the kind you use for a gas grill. We bought a portable Coleman grill last year, and it rocks, but we were really glad we got the adaptor. Those little tanks for portables get expensive when your doing any cooking to speak of. The specs on yours said 3 1/2 hours on one small tank; that's not that many loaves.

Of course, you could always get a new Lodge dutch oven and learn the old school way of baking while travelling. Then you could feel really cool for learning an ancient technique. It is actually pretty simple if you get one of the dutch ovens that has the lip on top for the coals. Don't get one without the lip and plan to use it for baking bread, it is too much of a hassle to deal with and you'll never do it.

There are lots of sources of information on cooking in this way. A randomly chosen example:

I was thinking the same thing as Loafer - we are planning a big family reunion camping weekend this summer and I was thinking of trying to bake a loaf of bread in my dutch oven using campfire coals. Since this is just a short weekend trip, and I like to ferment my sourdoughs a long time anyhow, I was thinking of making the dough at home, let it bulk ferment in a cooler, plop it into the dutch oven and bake at the campsite. Judging the temperature and bake time with the coals ought to be interesting...

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